RECIPE FOR SUCCESS (A LA CARTE)

Am I the only one who thought a la carte meant food cooked/prepared on order? Someone please tell me there are people who think a la carte means food cooked/prepared on order. I was going to write today's Recipe For Success using A la carte, the way I understood it, as an analogy. Then I searched for its meaning, so I could reference it in this post, and found out
I had been wrong all my life.

à la carte

/ɑː lɑː ˈkɑːt; æ lə; French a la kart/

adjective, adverb

1.

(of a menu or a section of a menu) having dishes listed separately and individually priced Compare table d'hôte

2.

(of a dish) offered on such a menu; not part of a set meal

Word Origin

C19: from French, literally: according to the card

 

à la carte

[ɑː lɑː ˈkɑːt, a la, French a la kaʀt]

                                                                - Dictionary.com

 

 

Hmmm. Maybe some cultured individual might have an explanation for why we (Me and those I hope thought A la carte meant food cooked/prepared on order) define a la carte as food cooked on order.

 

Anyway, I will go ahead to use a la carte the way I knew it before, meal prepared on order. For the purpose of this conversation;

 

à la carte

/ɑː lɑː ˈkɑːt; æ lə; French a la kart/

adjective, adverb

 

Dishes cooked/prepared on order, from scratch, fresh. NOT overnight food, or reheated food, or food-a-customer-rejected-and luckily-another-customer-just-ordered-it-so-we'll-serve-it-to-them-and-save-costs. FRESH FOOD COOKED/PREPARED ON ORDER FROM SCRATCH.

 

I have been to a couple of restaurants where they tell you they serve meals a la carte and by the time you taste the meal you just know this isn't a la carte. It hurts especially since you're expected to pay premium amount for a supposedly premium food. You can't even argue with them because all you have is your taste buds against theirs. It hurts because they made a promise and failed. So, you decide never to visit them again. Little wonder a restaurant starts really well and after some time they run down. It takes character to maintain a restaurant. It takes character to promise a la carte and serve a la carte.

 

See, if you ever go to a restaurant where they serve a la carte in 10 minutes, trust me you just got served a la overnight. Not to say a restaurant that takes 2 hours to serve your order is really cooking it from scratch. They could just be delaying it to make you feel like they're cooking/preparing it from scratch or they're just plain slow. You know how it is in our space.

 

But really, to succeed as an artiste (Christian/Conscious music), you must have character. You can't say one thing and do another. If you don't have character, you'll soon find that you repel the right people. You can only attract your kind. If you keep cheating everybody who comes across you, you can't go far.

 

An artiste who was quite successful 10-15 years ago recently came to me that he wanted to resuscitate his career and needed me to manage him. He was very compelling; I wanted to help him. This guy deserved to live a better life considering the kind of talent he had. But then, I remembered everything I had heard about him. Long and short, he lacked/probably still lacks character. I wasn't ready to take the risk so I turned down the offer.

 

People talk in the industry. Your reputation lingers long after you're gone. This is a guy who was at his peak when I was still in secondary school and had no idea I'd ever run an artiste management company. His reputation 10-15 years ago still defines him today. It is very important you build character as an artiste.

 

Character protects your talent - John Maxwell



Today's recipe for success: CHARACTER

Photo credit: Google.com


Best wishes
Jesam.